The recent outbreaks of measles and mumps across the country have been linked to communities and families that claim a religious exemption to the vaccine and to “anti-vaxxers” who claim a link between the vaccines and autism. The development of vaccines, beginning at the end of the 18th Century, had all but eradicated smallpox, measles […]
Selene Saavedra Roman, 28, a resident of College Station, Texas, had been a crew member for Phoenix-based Mesa Airlines for a few weeks when she was scheduled for a February 12 flight to Mexico out of Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). Mesa flies certain routes for united Airlines. She had come to the US […]
Judges often tell jurors that the word “verdict” comes from the Latin words for “speaking the truth” and that a trial is therefore a search for the truth. But what happens when you try a case in this “post-truth” world we live in? How do you address facts and evidence with folks who believe there […]
Most people think of New York State as a bastion of liberalism and being “soft-on-crime.” In fact, New York has one of the worst sets of rules when it comes to providing discovery to people accused of crimes. An organization I am affiliated with called It Can Happen to You (ITCHY) which traditionally has supported […]
OK I’m ready for the negative comments and hate e-mails. After all who could be against a law that gives more rights to victims of child sexual abuse? I mean besides the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America for their obvious reasons of self-preservation. Well, how about someone who has seen how the […]
I am opposed to the death penalty. While my opposition principally comes from my work in wrongful conviction cases, my opposition is to the death penalty in all cases – even where the evidence of guilt is overwhelming or where the details of the crime are horrific and gruesome. I just feel it is a […]
As my law school semester winds down, I usually like to send a message to my outgoing students who are all 3Ls who will be graduating this May. This semester, there has been a lot of buzz about Netflix’s true crime documentary “Making a Murderer 2” and I can see that it has inspired many […]
It is often an illusion that all lawyers and clients get the same treatment when standing before the bench in a court of law. The fact is that for a variety of reasons in criminal cases, there is a cozy relationship between the bench and the prosecutors appearing before them. Now before I go any […]
TV viewers are addicted to forensic cop shows – CSI, NCIS, etc etc. The shows make it look like every crime can be solved by forensics and that forensic science is unassailable. In fact, bad forensics is one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions across the country. When I talk about “bad forensics” I […]
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